LOVE Fan Fest Spotlight

We were lucky enough to attend LOVE Fan Fest‘s fantastic first event last year in Barcelona, and we’re proud to say we’ll be joining them again this year! Graciously, the production team for the event took a few minutes out of their busy schedule to answer some of our questions. Read on to discover more about the event and how it’s organized!

LOVE Fan Fest: We are a small group of friends, with different sexual orientations, and we respect each other completely. It’s that kind of family you can choose. We’ve been working in music events, among others, for a long time. We wanted to take a leap where part of our sexual orientation was present. And, above all, offer a safe place for many people that aren’t lucky enough to live in a city as big as Madrid or Barcelona. Mainly because even though there is still a long way to go, we are lucky to live being ourselves.

LGBTFDB: If you were to describe a day at the event for someone who wasn’t able to attend, how would it go? // Si tuvierais que describir un dia en el evento a alguien que nunca haya ido, ¿como seria?

LOVE Fan Fest: The almost 10 hour day is like a rollercoaster. You suddenly find attendees laughing hard and seconds later crying, telling their stories and sharing their fears. The most special thing is being able to see the guests just like other attendees. We want to make each activity a positive experience for the attendees. We could pick the Main Hall as an example, the Q&A Panels became something magical. Each conversation had there was a bit like helping heal those fears that were shared.

We achieved creating a spectacular energy in the first edition. We saw how the public discovered that there were people with their same feelings, fears and concerns. People that from that moment became good friends, even couples. Very beautiful stories were born and that will always make us proud. But there is one specifically that we are always going to remember beautifully. A few day after the Festival finished someone emailed us telling us how the festival had given them the strength to tell their father how they really felt, loved..and their father simply hugged them. The whole team keeps that email. It moves us every time we read it.

LOVE Fan Fest: The main difference is the emotions. The need attendees have to feel that their love story has room in such a big sector like that of TV/films. The public needs to see themselves written in stories. And they speak with the guests with that emption. They transmit their fears. And they thank them for giving them a voice. Because nowadays being part of the LGBT+ community is still a reason to be singled out. And all this can change if inside the entertainment industry we are capable of creating stories where that community is normalized. It’s something really essential to keep growing as a society. Comic Con is an event to enjoy and have fun. An LGBT+ convention is a place where the main goal is to feel what we are, share experiences and fight for a goal that belongs to us by right.

LGBTFDB: How does the panel lineup get decided? // ¿Como se decide el cartel de invitados?

LOVE Fan Fest: That’s the most difficult part of this whole adventure! Especially because the production team can’t choose it. It’s more like an invitation spam and wait. Wait for agents or managers to give us their feedback and from there see who rejects the invitation, who is interested, who do the public want more… It’s very important for all of us to know what our public wants. We try to balance between what they want and what we can get.

LGBTFDB: Running conventions isn’t easy, we know it takes a lot of time, money, and energy. What do you think the biggest challenge is and do you get any support from LGBT Orgs in Spain? // Sacar adelanate una convencion no es facil, sabemos que requiere tiempo, dinero y energia. ¿Cuales creeis que son los desafios mas grandes a los que os enfrentais y si teneis algun apoyo de organizaciones LGTB en España?

LOVE Fan Fest: Unfortunately, there are no LGBT+ organization in Spain supporting us. These kind of events are not attractive for them. In addition, in Spain people still don’t understand conventions at all. It’s something that’s starting step by step. So it’s specially complicated to manage. The biggest challenge is to get the support from national institutions and companies from the entertainment industry.

LGBTFDB: The convention is in Barcelona, do you get attendees solely from Europe? // Al ser el evento en Barcelona, ¿teneis asistentes solo de Europa?

LOVE Fan Fest: We don’t, the truth is that regarding that aspect we’ve been lucky. The first edition and this second one has public from all over the world. Which makes the event, culturally speaking, amazing. The more diversity, the more we learn from each other.

LGBTFDB: How is the representation in Spain and would you say that has any affect on the planning for the event? // ¿Como es la representacion en España? ¿Diriais que os afecta en algo a la hora de planificar el evento?

LOVE Fan Fest: There were moments representation was there because it was the trend and everyone jumps in. Other moments where it seemed non existent. Some others in which only gay men existed and the rest were just made up beings. And now, we’re starting to see more stories, we’re starting to feel that each letter of the LGBT acronym matters. It’s about time to grow up regarding that. Because the public is not the problem. The public, if you tell a well written story, is going to love what it represents.

LOVE Fan Fest: We’re all people and we all deserve to be loved and respected. Each initial in our community counts. Each one of them is important. LOVE Fan Fest in an annual meetup where love is something very big.

LGBTFDB: What would you like to see happen for Love Fan Fest in the next few years? Do you have any plans to expand? // ¿Que os gustaria ver que ocurriera con LOVE Fan Fest en los proximos años? ¿Algun plan para expandiros?

LOVE Fan Fest: We have a plan in our heads. And we’re working on it slowly. But we specially want LOVE Fan Fest to be a reference in the LGBT+ community where the public and the entertainment and culture sector meets. Where professionals from the entertainment industry come to listen to the public and be aware of all the possibilities there are for everyone to feel integrated in something as essential as TV and films. Because as Natasha Negovanlis said, in our first edition, if you don’t have representation on the screen you’re saying those people don’t exist.

Regarding expanding, in September, for the first time, we’ll be in Vancouver. It’s one of the first cities, internationally, to be gay friendly, so we had to be there with LOVE Fan Fest, no doubt.

LGBTFDB: If people can’t attend, but want to support the event, what options are there for them to do that? // Si hay gente que no puede asistir, pero quieren apoyar el evento, que opciones tienen para poder hacerlo?

LOVE Fan Fest: We’re always open to proposals. Always. People can help however they want. Through social, website, advertising, spreading… Any proposal is always welcome. We are sure that eventually LOVE Fan Fest will grow as people support us now and in the future. So we want to work hard to become what our public needs.